The present invention relates to packaging and is particularly concerned with food packaging prepared from flat blanks of corrugated paperboard.
Generally, packaging components are manufactured for the specific products to be packaged Where food products are involved, sometimes the packages are designed for eat-in use and other packages are designed for carryout use. The requirements of different packages for eat-in and carryout means that someone who sells food products for both uses must maintain on hand dual inventories of packaging materials. Meanwhile it has heretofore been recognized that manufacturing and inventory requirements can be simplified by using a common blank to form two halves of the same package. U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,354 discloses a tray with a telescoping cover formed from identical blanks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,538 discloses a paperboard carton with common tray-cover components, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,324 (owned by the present assignee herein), discloses yet another telescoping carton made from identical blanks of paperboard. However, none of the aforementioned prior art patents disclose a package particularly suitable for two different uses, i.e., eat-in and carryout.
In this regard, the present invention is directed to a new and improved package construction in which the same component is used in combination to form a carryout package, or singly as an eat-in package for food products such as pizza. In its carryout mode, two like components are combined to form a tray and lid whereas in the eat-in version, only one component is used to form a tray. Unlike the prior art constructions that require separate sets of fold or score lines, which are selectively utilized depending upon whether an inner or outer package half is to be formed, the present invention provides a construction wherein the fold lines and folding sequence are the same for each component of the package. Thus the packaging components of the present invention are economical to make and the user need only carry one inventory for both carryout or eat-in service.